Cedar Hills Mayor Eric Richardson, left, speaks during a press conference at the Cedar Hills Public Safety Building Feb. 21, 2012. Current Mayor Gary Gygi is on his left and was a council member at the time. Richardson resigned, admitted his guilt to bank fraud and served time in federal prison. The city council approved a lease for Richardson and his partners to run the city’s clubhouse grill on Feb. 17 pending the attorney’s review of the document.
Councilman Zappala: Former Cedar Hills mayor turns his life around, starts restaurant business
February 27, 2015 • Cathy Allred Daily Herald
CEDAR HILLS – Convicted ponzi co-schemer Eric Richardson has done his prison time and is back working with the city, as a Vista Pointe partner, and a few residents suspect foul play.
Richardson was found guilty in 2012 of bank fraud, and was sentenced to 366 days in federal prison followed by 36 months of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution.
He reported to prison on Jan. 7, 2013.
After his release, Richardson became a Vista Pointe partner, and the city council approved a lease Feb. 17 with Vista Pointe for golf pro café after reviewing the application and business plan twice, and making approval dependent on the attorney’s review of the lease agreement.
Resident Paul Sorensen watched the final applicant review process at the city council meeting.
“I was really kind of frustrated because it wasn’t really clear who else put a bid in,” Sorensen said. “It went rather quick and there wasn’t much information.”
If he had been a council member, he said he would have made sure they had at least real good applicants.
“And if no one wanted this bid, I would question whether we should go down this road,” Sorensen said. “And if they only have one, that’s a red flag.”…
…Conflict of interest
Elected officials said they had not anticipated a conflict of interest for the current mayor when they began the process soliciting for vendor applications November 2014.
“Basically the mayor has been given the authority to go and negotiate this, but the mayor has a relationship with Eric Richardson when he was the mayor and the mayor was a city councilman,” Councilman Rob Crawley said. “I’m afraid that there might be some talk about back room deals or political favors and that is a concern to me. I don’t want that.” …
… Pros and Cons
Resident and representative for the Cedar Hills Citizens for Responsible Government, Ken Cromar said if he were on the council he would have done things differently.
“If I were on the council, I would have rejected Eric Richardson’s application and reopened the application process to get additional bids,” Cromar said. “Have they no sense of propriety? Are they not embarrassed?”
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